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State witness fabricates evidence in Glen View murder trial
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
June 20, 2012

Spencer Nyararai, a State witness in the murder trial of 29 MDC members has been accused of rehearsing and fabricating evidence to falsely implicate the accused. This was said by the lead defence counsel, Beatrice Mtetwa during the cross-examination of Nyararai at the High Court today.

This statement was made after Nyararai gave several conflicting evidence and claimed that he saw some of the accused people at the scene of crime.

Nyararai had told Justice Chinembiri Bhunu that he had identified Lazarus Maengahama, Yvonne Musarurwa and Rebecca Mafukeni at the scene of crime last year wearing MDC shirts but gave conflicting statements on their hairstyles when they were arrested and appeared in court for initial remand.

He claimed Musarurwa and Mafukeni had short hair but on the initial remand at the Harare Magistrates' Courts less than a week later they had long hair.

Most of the evidence he gave in court today was divergent with the statements that he gave to the police last year and other State witnesses who have taken the stand before him.

In court he said the accused were singing and chanting MDC songs and slogans but this is omitted in his police statement.

"The evidence in court is materially different from the evidence he first gave to the police because he has rehearsed. The police statements do not include the chanting and singing in front of Munyarari Bar because it did not happen," said Mtetwa.

Nyararai also stunned the court that stones used to attack the police officer, Inspector Petros Mutedza where thrown to the front of the bar from residential houses at the back of the bar.

This resulted in the intervention of the trial judge who said the court would see how this is possible during the in loco inspection to be done next Tuesday. "He will show us how it is possible during inspection in loco," said Justice Bhunu. The inspection, which was supposed to take place on Thursday, has been postponed in order to put the necessary security arrangements in place.

Nyararai also said some of the evidence brought to court had been tampered with after a police radio he picked lying beside the deceased police officer had been fiddled with while it was in police custody.

The police officer said when he picked up the police radio it was in two pieces but when it was presented in court today, it was in three pieces.

More shocking in Nyararai's statement is that Victor Magutarima, another police officer who gave evidence last week said he was the one who took the broken radio into his custody after it was handed over to him by a young boy at the shopping centre.

The trial will resume on Monday with the defence lawyers making application for leave to apply for bail at the Supreme Court. The application follows the refusal by Justice Bhunu to give the accused bail on Tuesday saying they had not shown any special circumstances to be granted bail.

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